The 13th edition of the Easter Festival will be accompanied by many premieres and the recovery of almost unreleased or rarely heard pieces. This way, the contest highlights the legacy of Catalan classical music and broadens the look at rarely performed pieces by composers from our country.
One of the concerts that will have more premieres is the one that the Madrigal Choir will offer us next 2 d'abril. The choir directed by Pere Lluís Biosca will premiere the work "Lullaby" by Albert Guinovart, setting to music a text by Josep Palau i Fabre. It will also be possible to hear for the first time the work "Diré en mi tes bonances" by Joan Magrané, a work based on a text by Agustí Bartra.
Just the day before, the inaugural concert on April 1, by the Julià Carbonell Symphony Orchestra, will also highlight a work that, despite not being an absolute premiere, it has been heard on very few occasions. It is the "Intertonal Suite" by the composer Jaume Pahissa and which was performed for the first time in 1926.
After the pandemic, the Easter Festival recovers its unique concert pairing of music and gastronomy. an absolute premiere in co-production with the Pyrenees Early Music Festival, pianist Lluís Capdevila will premiere his latest album in concert, “Lament”, recorded just this February. Self-created music that sinks its roots into jazz and improvisation, always marked with the stamp of a unique and unmistakable personality. The new songs will be heard while doing some gastronomic tastings in dialogue with the sommelier Jordi Martínez, by Select Wine Store, paired with local wines.
In the Festival's desire to recover Catalan musical heritage, an unpublished work by Francesc Andreví from Segarra has also been 'rescued' and will be heard for the first time, preserved in the Cervera County Historical Archive. an absolute premiere in co-production with the Pyrenees Early Music Festival, the pianist Roger Illa will be in charge of interpreting it as part of the competition's morning concerts.
This year, the contest will revolve around Pau Casals and other composers who emigrated and suffered exile. Most of the scheduled concerts include works by Casals. In this way, tenor Roger Padullés and pianist Francisco Poyato will perform an exclusive concert with "The songs of Pau Casals", a very unknown and little interpreted part of his compositional legacy.
For its part, the Kebyart - recent winners of an Enderrock award- will perform for the first time in Catalonia the work "Quartet for saxophones" by Montserrat Campmany.
an other quartet, but in this case of rope, l'Athena, he will also perform a very rare work by Pau Casals. It is the "String Quartet in E minor" composed by Casals el 1893.
On the piano side, the Nexus Piano Duo, they will offer us the ballet "Ariel" created by Robert Gerhard the 1934 and which has also been heard live on very few occasions.
Finally, and in this compilation of premiere works or that are almost unpublished, also highlights the "Stabat Mater in Eb major" by Josep Pla and the "Salve Regina in G minor" by Manuel Pla. Two works by these brothers of great relevance, but which have been performed on numerous occasions and which will once again highlight the Catalan Baroque Orchestra right at the end of the Festival.
The Festival is organized by the Paeria de Cervera and is a meeting point for the classical music sector in Catalonia and a showcase of classical music that is made in Catalonia. It has the support of the Department of Culture of the Generalitat through the ICEC and the Diputació de Lleida through the IEI.
Advance tickets for 15 concerts that have been scheduled this year are already available on this website and have different discounts and bonuses.